Subsidiary company?

Question

For a school project I am researching Fannie May. On one of the webpages, Fannie May says its company is called Fannie May Confections Inc. and it is a "wholly owned subsidiary of Alpine Confections Inc". What does this mean?

Here is the link to the webpage I'm talking about:

http://www.fanniemay.com/aboutus/

The quote comes from the section "The Fannie May brand."

As usual, 10 points will be awarded for best answer.

Answer 1

A subsidiary is a smaller company that is controlled by a bigger and more powerful entity.  In other words, Fannie May Confections is a child company and Alpine Confections is the parent company.